Enough classic horror
Tired of the same old monsters, creatures of the night and iconic horror characters from the last reviews? What about some other terror…which kills? The thrill to kill explemplified in some rather unusual mix of chillers in different genres, there might just be something for everyone to like here.

Kill me tender
Slashers, fantastical creatures, muuuurder. It’s all in here and a bit more. A selection of sick human or supernatural behavior. Believe it or not…Ripley…this is the time to get REALLY scared…So never mind that moving shadow in front of your window, it’s all in the head…or is it?

The Raven
(USA 2012, director: James McTeigue)
A serial killer murders his victims as in Edgar Allen Poe’s stories, and it’s up to the master of short stories to write for his and other people’s lives.

Dark, moody, it’s unlike the previous movies the director did (V For Vendetta, Ninja Assassin). Even with a runtime of nearly 2 hours, it doesn’t have a dull moment. The serial killer format is not really anything completely new, but how Poe’s stories are interwoven and how he is portrayed is well done. Together with some rather violent murders which are reminiscent of the Saw series, one could ask how this got a 15+ UK rating or 16+ in Germany. Still the gruesome details are not only used to shock, but reflect the dark atmosphere.

Virus
(USA 1999, director: John Bruno)
A group of small-time scavengers find an abandoned research ship and is soon confronted by a hostile AI which treats them as a virus.

Even though there’s not much of a story or memorable characters and the soundtrack is highly reminiscent of the Alien-franchise, the movie still manages to entertain. Like so many other 90ies sci-fi-horror movies (Octalus comes to mind), it might not have been a big box office hit and got rather bad reviews, but then again the atmosphere is tense and the action scenes together with the creature special effects plus a bit of gore are just enough…unlike Ghost Ship which had too much down time and became boring after a while.

Constantine
(USA/Germany 2005, director: Francis Lawrence)
New-age exorcist who sees half-breed angels and demons in the human world, has to protect it against the son of Satan.

Surprisingly dark with great special effects and brutal fights, the comic adaptation is let down by Keanu Reeves’ (typical) wooden performance and a lack of suspense in the story which takes quite a while to kick in. Same with the action scenes which could have been more. Unlike Blade (fights are a bit similar), the running time is a bit long.

Still an entertaining fantasy horror flick with quite some disturbing imagery (and I thought The Possession was creepy when dealing with exorcism).

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
(USA 1996, director: John Frankenheimer)
On a far off island, experiments with breeding half-animal and half-human creatures are conducted, and it all gets out of hand at some point.

Not listening to what critics of that time in the 90ies said (or even today) who bemoan the loss of story, character development and a general lack of political awareness…this is still an entertaining horror/sci-fi/action movie with a message which makes you think. It is a bit slow at first, and Val Kilmer’s performance is pretty bad, but Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau is quite convincing, and the overall setting atmospheric.

It is a bit reminiscent of Planet of the Apes, especially with the message how cruel human beings can be, but that’s not a bad thing, considering it gets quite brutal and dark during the runtime (so violent that a 16+ certificate in Germany is, again, quite problematic, and what about that 12+ in the UK?).

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About nufafitc

Being an avid gamer, cinemaniac, and bookworm in addition to other things the internet and new media present, I'm also very much into DIY music, rock and pop in particular. Writing short or longer pieces about anything that interests me has always made me happy.
As both an editor for German website "Adventure-Treff" and UK website "Future Sack", I like to write reviews and news about recent developments in the movies, games and book industry.